Movie review: Novitiate’ pulses with energy, guile

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Nov 9, 2017 at 8:52 AMNov 9, 2017 at 8:52 AM

Al Alexander More Content Now

What writer-director Margaret Betts pulls off with “Novitiate” is just short of amazing. Think about it: A movie about a novice nun negotiating her way through an unyielding religious order at the dawn of Vatican II. Doesn’t really get the blood boiling, does it? But in Betts’ highly capable hands the staid becomes excitingly alive with a story that pulses with energy and guile. Oh, and did I mention the sex? Yes, this could become a habit.

Lighting the candle is a scorching performance by newcomer Margaret Qualley as the nun-in-training. Her Cathleen is young, beautiful and passionately in love with God. But this is no ordinary teenage crush. It’s something that’s been building since the first time Cathleen’s non-believing mother, Nora (Julianne Nicholson), took her to church when she was 7-years-old. That was in 1954, a time when the Vatican preferred only the strong, silent types as Jesus’ “brides.” But by the time Cathleen was old enough to become a postulant in 1964, the Church was about to undergo its first makeover in a century at the behest of Pope John XXIII.

Betts, a novice (filmmaker) herself, cleverly melds the upheaval surrounding Vatican II with the turmoil inside Cathleen’s head, as the pressures mount on her path from postulant to novitiate to full-fledged member of the order. It’s a two-year process, and Betts immerses us in the beauty, the pageantry and the awe-inspiring sacrifice the journey entails. But she also just as fervently exposes the dark side, the almost prison-like conditions that confine and repress the trainees who are often exposed to cruel psychological tactics and acts of repentance that can only be described as degrading. In many ways, it reminds of a fraternity hazing.

As a child, Cathleen is told by a nun that Catholicism is about two things: Love and sacrifice. But by the time her training is through, it starts to dawn on her that she’s done a lot of the latter and received very little of the former. Some might take that as a cheap shot aimed at the Church, but it’s more of a testament to the rigorousness of a process that strives to weed out the many that enter with skewed motivations. And doing most of the weeding is Melissa Leo’s Reverend Mother, the Church’s equivalent of a Marine drill sergeant.

No surprise that Leo is magnificent in the role, even when Betts’ script turns needlessly melodramatic. She makes palpable the fear she instills in her charges, but it’s a sternness born not of meanness, but of a desire to single out the few capable of genuinely devoting their lives to God. To be sure, Leo gets her share of showy soliloquies, but her best work comes when we watch her silently stew over the bound Vatican II directives she receives almost daily from on high. Orders she considers to be a betrayal of her 40 years of sacrifice to the Church. And just wait until she lays into the archbishop (Denis O’Hare) about how the Church’s largest and most devout faction — the nuns — were denied a place at the table when the Second Vatican Council met to devise the reforms.

It’s Oscar-caliber work throughout. And while Qualley isn’t quite at that level yet, her portrayal of Cathleen is as stunningly moving as it is efficient, taking us deep inside the psyche of a young woman whose sexual awakening couldn’t come at a worse time. It not only challenges her faith, but also her commitment to a life — that despite its many rewards — could end up shot down by the same betrayals currently felt by the Reverend Mother.

If there’s a weakness in Betts’ wise-beyond-her-years script, it’s the one-dimensionality of Nicholson’s Nora, a mother hen who squawks repeatedly about losing her daughter to God. Yet we never see Mom getting the chance to reach an understanding as to why Cathleen — at least in her eyes — has forsaken her. It’s a vagary that undermines the story because you never really get a reason as to why a teenager who’s never even kissed a boy would be so certain of giving her life to Jesus. The suggestion is that it’s her parents’ angry, bitter marriage. But is that really enough of a motivation?

No matter. What counts is the fascinating behind-the-scenes look at what becoming a nun entails, the broken dreams, the crushed pride that exists along with the incredible joy of being a part of the most blessed marriages of all. But what I think I’ll remember most about “Novitiate” is how little appreciation the Church has for its hardest and most put-upon workers. Well, that and the ridiculous belief that celibacy is viable when sex and the need for physical affection is God’s greatest gift. To give love is to receive love. And denying that pleasure is what Betts sees as the catalyst for a failing institution racked by sex scandals and a general disconnect from the everyday lives of it followers. It’s a bold statement made by an equally bold movie. Consider me a believer.

“Novitiate”Cast includes Margaret Qualley, Melissa Leo, Julianne Nicholson and Rebecca Dayan. Written and directed by Margaret Betts. (R for language, some sexuality and nudity.) Grade: B+

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